


On The Early Morning Train

by SleeplessNightWithPhan



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: First Meetings, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Trains, choo choo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-17 10:21:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14186787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleeplessNightWithPhan/pseuds/SleeplessNightWithPhan
Summary: Nobody likes having to commute to their job in a packed train in the morning. Dan was no exception to that rule: he hated it with a passion. ( Ok, maybe the gorgeous looking guy who always sat opposite him made it -slightly- more bearable and Dan might even enjoy that bit about his day. But still.)





	On The Early Morning Train

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to AJ and Elizajane for helping me turn this fic into something actually written in the english language. Ily guys <3
> 
> This fic is just me cementing my train kink to be honest. I have no idea how that became my branding, but I decided to embrace it, so yeah. This is the result.

Morning commutes used to be the thing Dan dreaded the most in his life.

Dan worked in a big law firm in central London that was slowly but surely draining his will to live out of him. But with the rental prices in the city centre being an arm and a leg, he couldn’t quite afford to live anywhere near the big dark building he was employed in. Because of this, he had to rent an apartment on the outskirts of the city (that was still horribly overpriced if you asked him) and take the train to the centre every morning.

Of course, Dan wasn’t the only commuter who had this idea.

Every morning, when the train arrived in his station, it was awaited by an entire platform filled with men wearing dull suits and women carrying briefcase in their hands.

Dan used to take the train half an hour later, but he would have to spend the entire way trapped between other people. Being slightly agoraphobic, he’d started hating going to work even more than he had before.

But one day, when he was complaining about this to a coworker, she had told him that the earlier train was much less full. Ok, there were still a lot of people on it, but you could actually sit, and it was just a much more relaxing way to begin the day.

That was how Dan found himself at the train station every morning 40 minutes earlier than he would necessarily have to be. The getting up earlier was something he would gladly do in order to get rid of the overly stressful starts to his day.

And he had to say, his coworker had been right. Since he’d started taking the earlier train, he hadn’t had to stay upright even once so far. He’d still had to sit next to a stranger, but at least now he could enjoy his cup of coffee (which he really needed in the morning - Dan was a bit of a night owl) without risking it being knocked out of his hands by someone.

Or at least, so he’d thought.

There he was one morning, just sipping from his coffee and checking his twitter, when all of a sudden the cup was launched from his hands and the contents splashed all over his white shirt.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no, I’m so sorry!” a deep voice exclaimed, but Dan wasn’t really looking in front of him to address the person standing there. He was too busy searching for some tissues to try and contain the damage done to his clothes (thank god the coffee had had some time to cool down).

“I’m so sorry, I just wanted to sit down on the seat here, please, oh my god, I’m so sorry, oh no, your shirt, oh god what have I done? ” the guy continued to babble, and in his peripheral vision Dan could see him sitting down and reaching out to give him some tissues to clean up.

Dan wasn’t exactly angry with this guy though, a coffee stain on his shirt wasn’t the end of the world. Besides, there was no point in holding a grudge against the guy, knowing this was something that Dan could’ve done to someone too - and honestly, Dan was quite surprised it hadn’t happened yet.

“Don’t worry about it too much, it’s alright I suppose, I… ” Dan looked up to take the tissues from the other guy, but felt the words getting stuck in his throat when he had a proper look at him.

Sitting in front of him, looking at him with a slight hint of panic in his eyes, was the prettiest guy Dan had ever had the pleasure of laying his eyes on. And Dan had gone home with a lot of beautiful men is his years, so that was saying something.

“Are you sure? Is there anything I can do, anything at all? Once again, I’m so so sorry, and I can’t believe this happened. I mean, I know I’m clumsy and all that, but this is a new low, even for me,” the guy spoke, smiling a bit, and Dan had to tell himself that no, he couldn’t kiss those lips, no Dan, don’t, you don’t know him, stop.

“Yeah, it’s alright, not really something you can do to help me anyway. And it’s not like you intended to knock me over anyway. Or did you?” Dan smiled at the man, trying to show him that he really wasn’t mad, maybe even trying to flirt a little bit - he wasn’t stupid enough to miss out on a chance like this. 

“Well, ok then I guess, ” the man said, oblivious to the flirtatious undertone (or maybe just not addressing it in an attempt to not have to turn Dan down. Of course, knowing Dan’s luck, he should’ve seen that coming). And with that, he had seemingly calmed down enough to look at his phone and relax for the rest of the journey, leaving Dan alone with his daydreaming about the gorgeous man.

***

The next morning, Dan was just sitting on the train again, sipping his coffee once more, when someone sat down opposite him again.

“How much do I owe you?”

Dan was a little bit confused at first, but when he looked up, he saw that the same guy from yesterday was sitting in the seat, holding his wallet open in his hands and looking at him expectantly.

“How much do you owe me? What do you mean?” Dan asked, not exactly sure what he was getting at.

“How much do I owe you? How much do I have to pay you?” the man stated as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

“Wait, you want to pay me? Why?”

The man sighted. “Because I spilled coffee on you, coffee that you paid for. And I ruined your shirt, which you need to get cleaned somewhere, and I know that that’s not cheap. So, because it’s my fault you had to spend that money, I should be repaying you.”

Dan started laughing at this, making the other guy look at him in confusion.

“Oh please, no, you don’t have to pay me. The coffee was almost empty anyway, and I have a washing machine so cleaning the shirt didn’t cost me a penny.” Dan answered, because how the hell would he be able to take this guys money? He’d only feel bad about it.

But the man seemed to be determined.

“No, no, no. I ruined your morning yesterday and I made you walk around the office all day with a gigantic coffee stain on your shirt. You had every right to scream at me yesterday, but you didn’t. Which I appreciate by the way, but still. And now you’re over here making excuses as to why I shouldn’t be paying you back, but I still should. So please, just tell me how much I owe you, if not for you then just to give me some peace of mind.”

He had to say, Dan was impressed with this guy’s determination to pay him back. Sensing that he wouldn’t give up until he had gotten an answer, he decided to just allow him to pay him back.

“The coffee cost me £4. And as for the cleaning of the shirt, that will cost you to stop apologising and tell me your name, ok?”

It took the other man a few seconds to react to what Dan had said, but it was long enough to allow Dan to start overanalyzing the entire situation. Had he just made things really awkward? Was this something that he wasn’t expected to say? Had he messed this up?

But then the guy started laughing, and pulled the money out of his wallet.

“Here you go, that’ll be the coffee. And my repayment for the shirt; my name is Phil.”

***

After that day, Dan and Phil became fast friends.

Every morning, Dan would sit down on one of the seats in the second-to-last wagon, and every day Phil would come sit opposite him when he got on the train as well.

Dan learned that Phil got on the train a stop later than he did, and that he worked as a technician for the BBC radio 1 Breakfast Show. He learned that Phil had a brother called Martyn, a dog called Buffy, that he was lactose intolerant, that he loved horror films but also had a soft spot for real estate shows, and a bunch more random facts that he honestly didn’t know how ended up in their conversations.

In exchange, Dan told Phil all about his boring job as a lawyer and his wishes to change his profession and actually do something he enjoyed, his latest Netflix obsessions, the things he had read about on his 2AM wikipedia odysseys, and anything he felt passionate about really.

They didn’t speak anywhere besides their morning commutes though. The moment the train stopped and Dan and Phil had to get off, they went their separate ways; no texting, calling, social media messaging. No contact.

Until the following morning, when they would start over again.

Dan had thought about giving Phil his number, because he was feeling things for Phil that might not have been strictly platonic anymore.

He started to want to text Phil about the things he saw in his day-to-day life that reminded Dan of him (which happened a lot nowadays). Send him a link to a funny video, a picture of a dog he saw on his walk to the office, anything really.

But then one day, Phil brought up how he and his girlfriend watched a certain Netflix show together, and Dan had to try his best to not let the disappointment and hurt show on his face.

After that, he decided that it would be easier not to get too attached and just keep his friendship with Phil contained within the walls of the train, where he would be able to control them better.

***

It had been 4 months since Dan and Phil had met on the train, and they had sat together every day since without ever skipping a trip.

Which is why it took Dan a minute to realise that Phil hadn’t come in today.

Instead, there was a young woman sitting in his seat. Dan was about to tell the girl the seat was taken, when he saw that the station they were currently in was already the third one on their way to London, and Phil should’ve already gotten on.

Maybe he was sick? Maybe he overslept, and missed the train? Or maybe he had a day off?

Although Dan wasn’t really all that happy about it, he had to remind himself about the fact that he couldn’t possibly be mad at Phil about this. The guy had no way of contacting Dan, in the end. It had been his idea to keep their “thing” bound to the train and their morning commute.

Besides, Phil would probably be back on the train tomorrow.

Except he wasn’t.

The next day, the seat in front of him was taken by a random person as well. And the day after that.

It had been 2 weeks since Dan had last seen Phil. And every day, he lost a bit more hope over seeing him again.

And even though he wouldn’t admit it to himself at first, he really started to regret never giving Phil any way of contacting him.

***

Like every morning, Dan was sat down in the wagon he always took place in. He had toyed with the idea of moving into a different wagon a few times, but somehow he always ended up right here, where he used to see Phil every day.

The train had left the station a few minutes ago, and Dan was busy scrolling through Twitter, when out of the corner of his eyes he saw that someone sat down on the empty seat in front of him.

He looked up from his phone, out of curiosity more than anything, wanting to see who had taken so long to get from the door of the train to a seat - there were more than enough empty ones still, so it wasn’t like they had to roam down the entire train.

Dan was fully expecting a middle aged, grumpy looking man sitting opposite him, so he was extra surprised when he looked into two beautiful blue eyes, staring straight at him.

“Phil? Err, what, err… hi?” Dan stammered, not really sure what to say. This was the last thing he had been expecting when he had woken up this morning.

“Hi Dan, how are you?” Phil said, voice sounding apologetic, giving him a half smile.

But Dan wasn’t in the mood for small talk. Honestly, he was trying his best to contain the urge to start shouting at Phil like he wanted to.

“What… what are you doing here? I haven’t seen you in weeks!” Dan eventually managed to say, still feeling very mixed emotions over seeing Phil sitting there again.

Letting out a sigh, Phil looked down at his hands, which were toying with a loose thread on his jeans.

“I know I just disappeared, but I had no way to contact you and tell you what had happened. It’s kind of a long story to be honest, and I don’t think it’s something we can talk about on the train either.” Phil looked back up at Dan, giving him a half smile.

“Is there any possibility that we could meet up some time, so that I can explain everything to you?”

And of course, Dan agreed to that.

***

Which is how Dan found himself going from not having seen Phil in weeks to being invited to his apartment for dinner the next day.

They had in fact exchanged numbers this time, but Dan still felt like he shouldn’t text Phil, however much he wanted to. He wanted to hear the reason why Phil had disappeared first.

Dan arrived at Phil’s front door 15 minutes too early, but he was still in the process of knocking when the door swung open to reveal Phil standing there.

“Hi there Dan, did you manage to find it well? I’m cooking lasagna, but I still have to put it in the oven so it’s gonna be another half an hour before we can eat. You can just go sit down in the lounge and I’ll come join you in a bit,” he said, stepping aside as to invite Dan in, before disappearing to go to what Dan assumed to be the kitchen.

Phil’s apartment was, in a way, exactly how Dan had imagined the place would look, but also completely different. There were pops of colours everywhere, nerdy trinkets scattered all around the lounge, a complete mismatch of patterns and materials that somehow still worked together. Basically, the place was Phil translated into furniture.

But what Dan hadn’t been expecting was the sense of being at home that he immediately got when he walked through the door. The feeling of being safe and secure, the sense of not wanting to leave. A feeling he never got with his own place, even though he had been living there for 2 years already.

Dan had been sitting in the lounge on his own for about 5 minutes when Phil walked back in, carrying 2 cups of tea. He handed Dan a mug in the shape of Hello Kitty before sitting down on the couch next to him.

“So, how have you been?” Phil asked, attempting to make small talk, but his voice was laced with nervousness.

Not really in the mood to delay any longer, Dan decided to just get to the point immediately.

“Well, i’ve been alright really, except for the fact that you disappeared on me, but otherwise I’ve been doing fine.” Dan said, being the sarcastic little shit he always was. But he did regret saying that a little when he saw Phil’s facial expression fall, and he could see the guilt and hurt on his face. Maybe he had overdone it a little bit.

“I guess I owe you an apology for that, right? Oh well, might as well get to it.” Phil said before putting his tea down and turning to face Dan.

“Long story short, I have had a few changes in my life recently. Things that I really didn’t see coming, and which have made me have to switch a few things up. The first thing that happened is that me and my girlfriend broke up.”

Phil paused for a moment, and Dan didn’t know if he should be happy with this news or feel sad, because it meant that he might have a small chance of getting Phil, but it was clearly something that was hurting Phil.

“We hadn’t really been together for that long, only a few months,” Phil continued, “but the problem was that she was a coworker on the breakfast show. She was kind of my boss. And we didn’t really end things… amicably, so to speak. She had been cheating on me pretty much the entire time we were together”

Dan, sensing that Phil was having troubles speaking about this, reached out and took Phil’s hand in his, softly stroking his knuckles. He smiled up at Phil encouragingly, which caused Phil to smile a little bit back.

“I ended up being transferred away to the evening show, because she didn’t want me around anymore.” He continued. “It’s a nice job. My coworkers are much more fun, and I don’t have to come in as early anymore so commuting is a lot easier.”

“What do you mean, those early morning trains weren’t the best bit of your day? Full trains are the best thing there is, aren’t they?” Dan joked, hoping to get Phil to smile a little bit. But Phil only ended up looking at him with more intent, more seriously.

“That’s the problem here, Dan. Those early morning commutes were made a lot more bearable because of your presence. I even maybe looked forward to them a bit. To your fatalistic humour and the little facts you would tell me you only learned yourself the night before on one of your Wikipedia Odysseys.”

Phil took Dan’s hand in his this time, sitting up straighter, and looking Dan directly in the eyes.

“And at first I didn’t really think anything of it, I just thought I liked you as a friend. But then when I wasn’t on the early trains anymore and I couldn’t reach you anymore, I found that I missed you so much. More than I probably should have. More than can be considered strictly platonic missing, if that makes sense.”

Phil’s face had become clouded over by something Dan thought to be fear, so Dan flashed him a big smile, mirroring what he was feeling inside, what was going through his head. Had Dan heard that correctly? More than strictly platonic? Was there any hope for them after all?

The smile apparently helped Phil to continue his story, looking a bit less frightened.

“And when I realised that, I knew i had to find you again and talk to you. I tried looking for you on facebook, but do you have any idea how many people called Dan Howell there are on that site? So then eventually I just decided to get on a train yesterday, to see if you were still there. Because I simply couldn’t deal with not seeing you anymore. I had to talk to you, had to tell you how I feel.”

And Dan, still grinning like an idiot, actually giggled at that. Because he was finding it harder and harder to contain his feelings.

“So, what do you say Dan? Would you maybe consider forgiving me for abandoning you? Perhaps I could pay you back by taking you on a date sometime soon,” Phil asked, a smile slowly spreading on his face too, and Dan couldn’t contain himself anymore.

He launched himself forward, throwing his arms around Phil’s neck, and pulling them close.

“Of course I will, you idiot,” he whispered into Phil’s neck, before pulling back a bit to look into Phil’s eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes that he never wanted to miss looking into again for even a single day. And then those eyes were getting closer, and they eventually closed as Phil pressed a shy kiss to Dan’s lips.

Somehow, that one shy kiss turned into kissing on the couch for half an hour, before they were startled by an alarm on Phil’s phone reminding them to take the lasagna out of the oven.

(It ended up being slightly burned, because it took them another 5 minutes to stop kissing long enough for Phil to get it out of the oven).

Seated at Phil’s table, in Phil’s apartment, eating the lasagne Phil had made, Dan decided he didn’t hate his morning commute as much anymore.

Because if not for that, he wouldn’t have met this wonderful person he was currently holding hands with.

**Author's Note:**

> Any feedback, kudos or comments are greatly appreciated and basically make me happy all day long.
> 
> I've also got a Tumblr over [here](http://sleeplessnightwithphan.tumblr.com) :)  
> Thank you for stopping by ^^


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